Of Fire and Angels
Chapter One:
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Help Me.
My feet pound against the asphalt ground with all the grace of a sack of wet cement. I try comprehend everything that's happening around me, like the racing heart of mine, or the moaning of the dead ones behind me or the pounding of my head or the dizziness that's taking over me. I've been on the run for almost an hour now, I still hadn't had the chance to take a breath nor take a sip of water. The water's gotten warm now, though. Which is not exactly a privilege, yet I still need something to wet my sandpaper of a throat.
Heat licked at my sunburned face and coiled around my limbs like a great hot-blooded serpent. The ground smoldered and sent up a disorientating haze. Even the birds were silent and the grass stood still as if too hot to move. The muggy heat pressed in on me, even sweating was no good. It trickled down my neck and back like warm soup. Hair clung to my heads like thermal blankets, locking in the heat, frying my brain. The sidewalk was hot enough to fry an English breakfast. It was high noon and the sun beat down with unrestrained brutality, a few withering trees cast patches of pathetic shade onto the baked tarmac.
I ran like hell, with no intention to stop, I didn't want to die. But I was gonna die if I kept on like this, I needed to lose them so I ran in a zig zag line, almost running into a few trees on my way, but they were coming from all directions, and if one spotted me, they'd all get the signal and follow him. There was a weak voice in the back of my mind, telling me to stop, to give up. There was no hope, I needed a miracle to get out of this situation I've put myself in. And perhaps the voice is right after all. I had lost all reasons to survive, there was no one left for me. I'm just a broken young woman stuck in this inhumane world, I have no one with me, no family no nothing.
I remembered the giggles of my four year old daughter echoing from outside, then that blood chilling scream that erupted from her, I remember her crying and screaming as I ran outside to investigate, then I saw them, four of them, the dead ones. They were tearing her up bit by bit she spotted me and cried out 'mommy' I was her last sanctuary and I had failed her because I chickened out and ran home to call the police. I had failed her and now I pay the price.
My eyes were burning and my chest felt heavy as if it were filled with lead. I could no longer see clearly. All I knew was that she was gone, out of my life. Forever. y shoulders shaking with grief, tears streamed down my already sweat-wet face. The pain wouldn't hit me, but the tears did, mourning was always something that was supposed to be dignified and stoic in my family, but they are long gone now. The tears blurred my vision and I was running almost blindly, I couldn't equalize my sobs with my breathing, I shook everything from my body, it was like my mind needed rebooting. I forced myself to be calmer, to run quieter. And then at last I spotted something at the horizon. It was an old house, and even though it surely wouldn't last as a sanctuary but in my head, I was forming a plan and I prayed to God -whom I had long since given up on- to make it work.
Dust lay over every surface like dirty snow, pristine dust layer, not a foot print anywhere, dust bunnies the size of bowling balls tumbled across the floor boards toward unseen skittles, free papers piled up to the letter box and cascaded all the way to the foot of the rough wooden stairs, old tea cups lay on a coffee table thickly encrusted with dried up mold, dust covered mirrors, smell of mildew, stale air, air thick with dust, shafts of light bursting through gaps in the boarded up window, light streaming through the gaps in the heavy velvet curtains, absolute silence, not even the hum of a refrigerator, the houses only occupants weaved their webs between the spindles of the stair banisters and from the ceiling to the wall, old cobwebs billowed in the draft.
I quickly began working on my plan, I grabbed an butcher's knife from the kitchen and took a huge breath and readied myself as I opened the door and grabbed one of them inside and locked the door straight behind me. My knife instantly collided with it's head, I hit it on the head over and over again, just to be sure. I took another big breath and slammed my knife into it's stomach, slicing it open and viewing it's insides.
My stomach contracted so violently that I had no time to comprehend it. Chunks of food covered in the creamy chyme from her stomach were propelled into the air and splattered the carpet and wall of the hallway. I heaved again and once more the carpet was sprayed. Now I could not move forward without stepping on my own puke and I was feeling weak. I sank to my knees and retched until only clear liquid was coming up. My throat felt sore from the stomach acid that was layering it and my mouth tasted of vomit. There was no-one to fetch me a glass of water or offer to clean up the mess. The stomach-acid stench of vomit filled my nostrils. I surveyed the mess with watery eyes.
I forced myself to pull myself together, I was running out of time. I took a quick sip of my bottle and shut my eyes as I reached into the dead thing's body and started covering myself with the blackened gore. The rotten smell was invading my nostrils and vomit wasn't far from my dry mouth. The whole process didn't take me long and soon enough I was done. I exited the door and risked my life.
When the first breeze of fresh air hit me I expected something to start gnawing on my arm. I expected death, but none of them took notice of me, I was on the verge of exploding from triumph, but I kept a straight face and walked on. I kept looking around me, terrified that one of them might realize my trick, fear was making it's way through my veins, replacing the triumph I had felt earlier. I tried to walk faster and I felt the urge to bolt away, but that would expose me. I shut my eyes and kept walking, hoping to be out of their sight.
I bumped into something and I open my eyes and find myself staring straight into bloodshot milky eyes. I choke back a scream as I try to remain calm, the thing was studying me, trying to determine what I was, it cocked its head in a stupid manner and I tried my best to mimic a grunt and a hiss and walked on in a slurry way, like a drunk would.
All the gore was now sticking onto my skin and making me feel hotter than before and it trapped the sweat beneath my skin and stuck my hair into clumps at my neck. The stink was much worse now, due to the intense heat. I ignored all that and focused on getting as far away from them as possible, they were almost invisible now, but some still lingered on the horizon, so I walked between some trees and disappeared out of their sight.
The heat was raining down on me and my clothes stuck to my skin, I couldn't take the stink of the gore anymore so I took off my clothes, leaving me in my underwear. Some gore had swept through the fabric of my clothes so my stomach and thighs had some blood on them, my face was splattered.
Not long after, I walked into a clearing, in front of me stood a farm. I spotted objects moving in the distance. They were people! Actual people who inhale oxygen! I yelled out in a wheezy voice:
"Hey! Hey! Over here!"
They took notice of me and walked forward in my direction, grabbing their weapons, obviously not trusting me.
"Help me." I pleaded in a low whisper that they were not meant to hear. "Help me." I whispered over and over again as a salty fluid dripped over my cracked lips. My knees buckled as the soil collided with my knees.
"Help me." I whisper again as I stare up at the blue sky. "Help me." Then as they finally arrived the whole world began fading to black and I shut my eyes.
"Help me."